PS 3503 
.P56 L4 
1910 
Copy 1 







Wztxtoz* 



Jfr^m W&bz*& (Barfren 



sm£r 



M&ufriarm M,t}yjtn*& 



•vi *> 



\ 






01. P £. <3^tyU l^^r 



Leaves from Love's Garden 



AND 



Random Rhymes 



BY 



Edwin Barclay 



1910 



OOLLKQB OB 1 WEST AFRICA PRESS, MONROVIA, LIBERIA, 



75 3r" 3 







*3UL -0 191? 



<4 






TO 

HER WHOM I LOVED IN CHILDHOOD, 

WHOM I LOST IN YOUTH, AND 

WHOM I EOUND IN MANHOOD— 

THE WIFE OF ANOTHER! 

E. B. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/leavesfromlovesgOObarc 



INDEX 



Page 

I. Dawn g 

II. The Past 9 

III. The Entreaty 10 

IV. Despair 12 

V. Delusionment 13 

VI. Love's L,ament 18 

VII. The Power of Love , . . . . 19 

VIII. The Death of Faith 20 

IX. Arise, O Love 21 

X. The Quest 21 

XI. The Call 22 

XII. Disillusionment 23 

XIII. Repudiation 25 

XIV. Night 27 

Song of the Harmattan 28 

Matilda Newport 29 

The Ocean's Roar 30 

Afric's Lament 30 

The Race-Soul 32 

To Jealous Lygia 33 

To Pauline Repining 34 

Te Deum Queremur 35 

To Lygia 38 

The Graduates... 38 

A song of Faith 44 

A Flirt 45 

The Lone Star ,..,,..., 45 



Eeaves from Cove's Garden * Page 9 



Dawn 

Far in the East the Sun, whose lambent flames 
Peep through the purple gauze which hides away 
Things unforeseen from those already past, 
Uprears his brow: The while, fair imps of light 
Roll up the filmy sheet 'twixt Night and Day, 
And drowsy Nature dons her dew-decked crown, 
Awakening all to life and work and Love! 



II. 
Cbe Past 



The Past! the Past! O Love, recall 

Its joys, its hopes, its cheerful years; 
Its tranquil hours, its short-lived fears, 

O Love, recall, recall them all! 

The Past! the Past! ah, hadst thou known 
The unsoothed pain, the smarting wound 
Which this sad heart in sorrow bound 

Has felt, would 'st thou its joys have flown? 

Ah, tell me not the Past is past: 

Such accents cannot quench desire; 
For Hope still lives and riseth higher 

Where Memory's leaves fall thick and fast. 

Ah, tell me not all hope is dead: 

That passing years have crowned our brows 
With fell despair. Recall the vows 

Of love we made; let hope be fed. 



Page 10 * Leaves from Cove's Garden 

Can love be dead? May passing years, 

Pulsed with the throbbings of our hearts, 
Drown all the hopes which faith imparts? 

Must holy love be quenched in tears? 

Ask thine own heart for mine beats fast 
With faith, tho' still unrealized: 
The joyous hopes once dearly prized 

Ivive but to crown our live at last! 

Let faith, let death, let life and time, — 

The minions of eternity, — 

The God of Love and destiny, 
Teach thee, my heart, this faith sublime. 



III. 
€be entreaty 



Tonight, O love, that mourneth sore 

The dark, irrevocable past, — 

That past whose memories while they last, 
Must dull the future evermore; 

No psean -strain shall I upraise 

In triumph at thy blighted hope: 
For I am mortal and but grope 

Through darkness, to the brighter days. 

But who may say: "I joy at this 

My false-friend's grave discomfiture?" 
Or, scorning pity, live secure 

From hard misfortune's cruel kiss? 



Ceaves from Cove's Garden * Page 11 

Today, we bask on sun-lit lawns; — 

Our every pleasure we fulfill; 

Tomorrow may be good or ill, — 
Who knows? we are but Fortune's pawns. 

Blind-folded, stern, she plays the game; 

And men may laugh, or men may weep, 

But in the dark recesses, — deep, 
Of human passions, still the same 

Heart-rending sorrows e'er abide. 

So be it deemed throughout all time, 

That holy sorrow is sublime, 
And in its presence must we hide 

All joy that upwards wells perchance 
A foe who dealt some subtle blow 
That wrung the heart and bent the brow, 

Be crushed by an unlucky chance. 

So I, who have been sorely tried, 

Midst fierce experience at thy hand, 
Beseeching thy forgiveness stand. 

Canst thou forgive? Let love decide! 

In truth the past is past: and now, 

Tho pained, I'd reach a hand to clasp 
Thine own within a friendlier grasp, 

And seal new friendship with a vow. 

New friendship! can it ever be 

That love once given may be crushed? 
Are not the hearts that forward rushed 

To claim each its affinity 



Page 12 * Eeaves from Cove's Garden 

Close-bound, fore'er, in weal or woe, — 

In trial or in happier state? 

My heart, my soul thy pleasure wait; 
Give me thy love! ah, say'st thou No? 



IV. 
Despair 

Love, thou hast been unkind, severe; 
Thy pride forbade thee recognise 
The joys that might have been. Arise! 

The hour of hate has come! Prepare! 

I, too, can scorn with scorn repay; — ■ 
The cravings of my heart repress: 
And my deep love with pride may dress, 

(Frail armour for so stout a fray!) 

But stout or frail or fierce or calm, — 

What guerdeon this for Love's decease? 
Each day my passion doth increase, 

And pride is useless as a balm. 

Forsooth! 'tis but a moment's pain, — 
This longing for the sympathy 
I scorn. O to be free, — heart-free 

From this wild dream that doth again 

Haunt all my thought each passing hour! 
Heart-free! have I a heart? It rests, 
Pauline with thee! within thy breasts 

Whose velvet couch has subtle power! 



Ecavcs from Cove's Garden * Page 13 

Thou stol'st my heart and now a stone 

Hangs heavy where a heart-beat thrilled ! 
That one long kiss! its sweetness filled 

My deepest soul when thou had'st done! 

'Twas in that kiss my soul departed; 
'Tis on that kiss, Sweet memory! — 
Today my passion feeds: ah, me, 

That ever I was broken-hearted ! 

Tears, tears, O copious tears will rise 

O'erflooding all the channels of my being: 
Ah, tears of blood and anguish, seeing 

Which cannot thy bright sparkling eyes 

Melt into sympathetic showers? 

O idle hope! O wreck of love! 

O too-confiding faith! Above 
They smile, — the higher powers! 

Smile! God! what awful sacrilege! .... 

Mock at my woe and me distressed? 

That love might point a sorry jest, 
Ah, can this be their privilege? 



V. 
Delusiotiment 



This morn I watched the rising sun, 

Which, swift ascending through the mist, 
Tinted the sky with amethyst 

And gold. He rose, and in his run 



Page 14 * Ceaves from Cove's harden 



Through all the eastern heavens, was hailed 
By song of lark and nightingale. 
The rythmic anthems could not fail 

To waken memories which trailed 

Back to the seeming distant past 

When love first rose along the lines 
Where careless youthfulness inclines 

To manhood. Ah, what joy was cast, 

(Projecting thro the coming years,) 
On the bright passage-way of Life! 
What hopes! what aspirations! strife 

Then seemed an alien, — and tears! 

And as in memory I paused 

'Twixt things that were and things that are, 

And gazed into the dim afar 
Viewing the changes years had caused, 

Since first upon Life's untried way 
Elate and confident, I pressed 
My youthful course with interest, 

I could not but recall the day 

What time, methought, athwart my way, 
As, tramping in a sullen mood, 
I travelled thro the scattered wood, 

A shadowy form all sudden lay! 

Startled from out my dreamy air 

I glanced towards the east, 

And there beheld, — O beauteous feast! — 
A maiden tall, — divinely fair! 



Eeaves from Cove's Garden * Page 15 

'Twas Pauline! and the sweetest smile 
Of interest wreathed her noble brow. 
I could not tell, — I did not know 

How, whence or why, o'er many a mile 

She came to tread with me the path 

That now was rough and hard. 

I felt, instinctively toward 
This girl a sense of anger. Wrath 

Rose deep within my breast as I, 

With dark misgivings, thought a foe 
Consumed with hate, and vowing woe, 

Sent her my movements to espy. 

But then as time wore on, and she 
With tenderest care and interest 
Divined my will and each behest, 

I felt a foe she could not be. 

We travelled, and my doubt gave place 
To fullest confidence. Nay, more: 
As noon to evening quickly wore, 

Within my heart she filled a space 

Exclusive. Soon my wearied feet, 

Fraught with the stress of travelling, 
Heavily moved. Besides a babbling 

Brook that, with its music sweet, 

Rushed capering through the forest glade, 
We sat us down, and she with love 
Watched o'er me while I faintly strove 

Against o'erpowering sleep. The shade 



Page 16 * Ceaves from Cove's Garden 

Of night fell o'er us, and I slept, — 

(If slumber deeply mixed with dreams 
Of fairest flowers and laughing streams 

Meandering through a world that wept 

No more for human woe and sin; 

Where all is purest love and beauty, 
And the stern call of solemn duty 

Wakes no remonstrances within 

The human breast, may sleep be deemed.) 
How long I slept, I know not. Soon, 
Ah, soon, too soon I woke. The moon 

Through leafy bower her radiance streamed 

And flooded the recumbent earth 

With glory. But the night wore on: 
And in the mystic east fair morn 

Rose from her fimly couch, and Mirth 

Held revel as she raised a crown 

Of golden beauty o'er the earth. 
'Twas then my spirit had its birth 

To higher destiny: and down, 

Deep down within the sacred well 

Of holy passion in my soul, 

I felt the unresisted roll 
And surge of love. How may one tell 

The high elation, — ecstasy of mind 

Soaring from out the grosser self, — 
The circumscribed sphere where pelf 

Of spirit-longings undermined 



Ceaves from Cove's Garden * Page 17 

Divine impulses of the mind! .... 
Lifted from out this introspect, 
I woke to life with vain regret, — 

Regret, that in our life we find 

Rank baseness and irreverence 

Usurping oft the purer will 

To do, in good report or ill, 
That which is right, without pretence. 

A sigh escaped me: and Pauline, 

With tenderest words dispelled my care. 
Then, freshened by the balmy air 

Of morn, amidst the crystalline 

Profusion of her gifts, we wended 

Our way across a dew- kissed lawn 

That sparkled in the light of morn 

Sudden, our mutual journey ended; 

And she, till now my guiding star, 

Fled from my side, like as a bright, 
Fair meteor from the dome of night, 

Speeds into darkness .... From afar 

I heard the sound of mocking laughter, 
Mounting on winged shafts of air, 
Borne meward: and a blank despair 

Seized on my soul. O woe! .... and after 

All my deep confidence and faith! 

Was this the end? was this the end? 

Ah, who has ever loved a friend 
And lost him? Like a wandering wraith 



Page 1$ * Eeaves from Cove's Garden 

With hair disheveled, garments torn, 
Byes peering with expectant gaze 
Deeply into the growing haze, 

And wandering, piteous and forlorn, 

I sought within the gathering gloam 

My Pauline. Where, O where was she? 
No answer from immensity 

Lulled my tried spirit to its home 

Of rest. Ah, no: 'twas past, — 

The dream of love, the hope of peace: 
Time held no joy and life no ease: 

E'en Hope had winged away at last. 



VI. 
Cove's Cament 



Spirit, that in th' ethereal deeps 

Keeps ward o'er frail mortality, 
O thou bright star, where'er she be, 

Watch o'er her as my darling sleeps! 

Thou breath of Love that downwards sweeps 
Upon thy crystal wings of light, 
Breathe on her as within the night, 

My darling Love's sweet vigil keeps! 

Ye rays of morn that paint the sea 

With hues dipped up from Nature's wells, 
Illumine her where'er she dwells, 

And guide my darling back to me! 



J 



Ceaves from Cove's Garden ** Page 19 

O wind that fills with sweet perfume 
The mountain-coronets of earth, 
That kissed the flowers at their birth, 

Caress her when in sorrow's gloom. 

And thou, O earth, if she be dead, 

And rests within thine ample bound, 
L,et roses, springing all around, 

Breathe lightly o'er her darling head! 



VII. 
Cbe Power of Cove 



IvOve is not dead! she cannot die! 
The spirit of a thousand years 
(Mingled, mayhap, with sighs and tears) 

Dwells in her, and she cannot die! 

She took her life from heaven's breath: 
She lives her life in heaven's light; 
She grows in sunshine or in night, 

And is irradiant in death! 

Let spirit of mortality 

But touch her pure attirement, 

And, lo, the filthy cerement 
Of carrion earth glows radiantly! 

Where sorrow is, she takes her seat, 

And calms the troubled heart to rest: 
She spreads for famished souls a feast, 

And builds the weary a retreat! 



Page 20 * Eeaves from Cove's Garden 



Love cannot die if Goodness lives, 

— And Goodness scorns mortality; — 
Her realm is without bound and free: 

Love thrives the more, the more she gives. 

Love's stores are ample, and her will, 
Unchanging as the Will divine; 
And all her efforts unconfined, 

Persist in happy state or ill. 

Then welcome Love, all ye who pine 

In sorrow and infirmity; 

She dowers you with sympathy, 
And makes your sufferance divine! 



VIII. 
Cbe Deatt) of Faitf) 



Toll, toll, toll 
Ye solemn bells of night! 

Let your wild requiem roll 
Far o'er the earth with might! 

Toll, toll, toll! 
Toll for the death of truth and right ! 
Toll for the birth of Error's night! 
Toll ye the rampant joy of sin! 
Toll for the good that might have been! 

Toll, toll, toll! 
Toll ye from brazen throats your ire, 
Let the wild clangour rising higher, 
Shriek loudly out life's wild despair; 
For Faith and Hope lay dying where 
Irreverent Lusts control the soul ! 



Ceaves from Cove's Garden * Page 21 

IX. 

Arise, O Cove 

Awake, O Love, the dream is o'er! 
Awake to a redeemed earth, — 
A world whose beauty has its birth 

In thy sweet influence and power! 

Awake! the horrid nightmare past! 

For Faith and Hope, they shall not die! 

Thy prayer has reached the realms on high, 
And Truth is conqueror at last! 

Thou trod'st, ere while, a realm of sin; 

Thou treadest now a Paradise, — 

The triumph of thy sacrifice, — 
Awake, and thy new reign begin! 

Arise, O love, in sleep is death! 

Awake to life's extatic joy! 

Up to activity 1 and toy 
No more with dreams! . . . Above, beneath, 

And all around, ascends earth's call: 
"Arise, O Love, and let us live! 
Awake, awake no more to grieve! 

Retrieve thou man's edenic fall!" 



X. 

Cbe Quest 

Saw you my love as she fled far away, 
Down by your waves, O sea, 

Fleeing in haste at the first smile of day, — 
Hastening away from me? 

Tell me, O tell from your mystical spray, 
Saw you my love to-day? 






Page 22 *? Eeaves from Cove's Garden 

But the sea growled in anger and answered me naught, 

Down by its rock-bound shore; 
And I took my lament and my sorrowing thought 

Far from its furious roar: 
But I left it my curse! — let it roar, let it roar! — 

Ay, I cursed it forevermore! 

Then I turned to the shrubs that encircle its verge, 

— Sentinels guarding the Coast — , 
And I lifted my voice o'er the din of the surge 

And questioned the spray- kissed host: 
"Saw ye my love as she wandered this way, 

Just at the birth of the day?" 

But the shrubs answered me with an irony sore: 

"Ask of the clouds thy love!" 
Then I cursed them too, and my agony bore 

To the shade of a neighbouring grove, 
Where I brooded my sorrow in that place of delight, 

Awaiting the coming of night. 

Soon the phalanx of Night with a steady advance 

Conquered the monarch of day; 
And life's revels and riots, pretentions and cants 

Died with his flickering ray. 
Then I rose in my anger and questioned with might: 

"What of my Love, O Night!" 



XI. 

Cbe Call 

Out of the mist and the darkness of night, - 
Out of thy sorrow and pain, — 

Into the past that gleams ever so bright, — 
Come to my heart, love, again ! 



Ceaves from Cove's Garden * Page 23 

Out from life's turmoil and wearisome strife, 

Out from its weakness and tears, — 
Come to my heart where contentment is rife, — 

Drown in my love, sweet, thy fears. 

Far as a bird by the fowler pursued, 

Fly on love's pinions awa3 T ; 
Shun life's illusions, — its blandishments rude, — 

Bask in love's pleasanter ray! 

L,ong hast thou wandered midst scenes that were gay; 

L,ong thine illusions have swayed: — 
Through fell experience they've all past away; — 

In purity be now arrayed! 

Broken and bruised though thy spirit may be, — 
Crushed though thy hopes may have been; — 

Thou art still fairer and dearer to me, — 
Dearer in spite of thy sin. 

Wilt thou not come? ah, and wilt thou deny 

Love its one darling desire? 
Doubtest thou still my devotion? that I 

Have torn from my spirit its ire? 

Wander, then, love, ah, never so far, — 

Far from the arms that caressed; — 
But here only wilt thou, like a wandering star 

In the bosom of Night, find rest! 



XII. 

Disillusionment 

I wandered on the hills at vespertide, 
Forlorn, disconsolate and sad; 
My soul felt crushed, — and all the mad, 

Foul phantoms of the past beside 



Page 24 * Eeaves from Cove's Garden 

Me walked. Ye wraiths of sadness, down! 

Why haunt ye thus its dark abode? 

My wearied mind has cast its load 
Of doubt and madness: get ye down! 



Eftsoon my restive spirit leaped 
With wild elation at the sight 
Which passed before me: and the light 

Of hope burned brighter as I reaped, 

Methought, the garner of a love 

Long foiled by fate Alas the woe 

Of disillusionment! And lo, 
The wreck and ruin of all I strove 

To gain . . . . O bankrupt faith! O sight 
That wreathed with horror the sublime 
Illusion of far-speeding time! 

Can this be truth? Is this the light 

Of love I sought with dull unrest? .... 
Ah, love is doomed, and faith is dead, 
Since now that I behold the head 

Of Pauline pillowed on the breast 

Of him who erst I deemed my friend! 

O fickle woman! False, ah, false! 

No more, no more my soul exaults 
In thy pure love This is the end! 

The end? Ah, wherefore be it said? — 

Be still, O heart, thy longings crush, 
For the wild notes that upwards rush 

Chaunt: "woe is love, for faith is dead"! 



Eeaves fron Cove's garden ^ Page 25 



XIII. 

Repudiation 

No more, no more the happy dream 
Of love we cherished, now abides! 
The wreck of faith along the stream 
Of hope lies shattered, and the tide's 
Wide sweep across the main of lyife 
Echoes amidst its turgid strife 
The hapless words: Good-bye! 
Good-bye! 

I cannot tell thee all I feel; 

I dare not tell thee what I think: 

No more thine humble slave I kneel! — 

I stand erect: and on the brink 

Atween what was, and what is now, 

I cast thee from me with a vow! 

love, my love that was! 

Good-bye! 

1 held thee truer than yon star 
That keeps its vigils from afar: 
And oft as I gazed on thy brow 

And read your heart, — so faithless now!- 
I thought that there true purity, — 
And staunchest, stern sincerity 
Beamed strongly, but alas! . . . 
Good-bye! 



Page 26 * Eeaves Iron Cove's Garden 

I weep and gaze into the sky, 
But hope is shadowed by the night: 
I lift my voice and question: "why?" 
But find, alas, no answering light 
That beckons to some haven safe 
Where I might rest this soul, a waif. 
All Nature sighs: Good-bye! 
Good-bye! 

I hold that love a mockery, 
Which, faith contemning, strives to melt 
Its falseness in a mimicry 
Of truth it never, never felt. 
By you and yours am I bereft, 
And all of hope that I have left 
Now echoes in the words: 
Good-bye' 

I deemed that love a stronger test 
Could stand, amid all earthly things, 
Than dark, parental interest. 
But fact survives, and fancy wings 
To realms of stern reality! 
What boots it that a soul might die? — 
One fool the less! There let 
Him lie! 

O love, the Past' . . . had it no charm 
To bind thee to thy sweetheart's arm? 
The hopes, the joys, the visioned bliss, 
Held they for us, ah, naught but this? 
Must faith long-plighted be outraged? 
And love be buried ere it aged? 
Ah, must we say: Good-bye, 
Good-bye! 



Ceaves from Cove's Garden * Page 27 

Good-bye! — sad words! — but all that I 
To-day may send thee as a gift! 
Take them, and know, that far or nigh, 
No balsam e'er can cure the rift. 
For love is dead, and faith is doomed, — 
Our happy hopes fore'er entombed: — 
My only legacy to thee 
The hopeless echo: "Love, 
Good-bye!" 

Good-bye! No more across the light 
Of thy fair countenance shall I 
Obtrude my hapless woe. The night 
Of love has come: of death the sigh 
From my crushed soul, howe'er, shall haunt 
Thy slightest dreamings without daunt: 
I pause, I weep: Good-bye! 
Good-bye ! 

Some say thou wouldst not have it so: 
That rather thou wouldst choose the woe 
Of widowed bliss: I would 'twere true! 
But how, how can I faith renew? 
'Tis dead, 'tis crushed! — so let it lie 
Untroubled e'er by flattery's sigh 
It is enough, my love, 
Good-bye ! 



XIV. 

maw 

The sun bent down and whispered to the sea: 
"O, sea, make room, make room, I pray for me!" 
The deep sea frowned, — burnt by the scorching light, - 
Man saw the frown and called its darkness NIGHT! 



Page 2$ »? Random Kbymes 



Song of the I?armattan 

We are coming, we are coming 
From the vast Sahara plain, 

With the icyness of winter, 
And the biting kiss of pain! 

We are coming, we are coming! 

Hark! the shrieking echoes rise 
Over hills, from hidden caverns, 

As we race 'neath tropic skies! 

We are coming, we are coming 
With our scourging blasts of pain: 

But the fields o'er which we revel 
Soon shall blossom fair again ! 

We are coming! — not a terror! 

Tho men reck not our desire, 
Tho they shun our wild caresses, 

Tho they curse the wild "high-flyer" 

We are coming but in earnest 

Of the purer atmosphere 
Man shall breathe when foul Miasma 

Shall have yielded us his sphere! 

We are coming! Greet us kindly: 
We seek out the haunts of pain, 

And we carry death for weakness, 
From the vast Sahara plain! 

But the strong man is made stronger 

By our penetrating blast; 
And the earth is purer, healthier 

When Harmattan's host is past! 



' 



Random Rhymes * ? Page 29 



Co matilda Newport 

I. 

O truest type of womankind! 

The echoing blasts that from the deep 
And pregnant cannon's roar now find 

Their solemn way adown the steep 
Declivity of Time, 
Shall nerve thy sons, — thy daughters thrill, 

In hour of darkness and of ill! 

II. 

Thou, woman, art sublime! 
Heroic in thy deeds: supreme through Time! 

Rising above all mortal fears, 
Scorning the threats of foe, the tears, 

Perchance, of friends: Viewing in dreams 
The bright innumerable beams 

Of light, that, flashing from your band 
Devoted, should o'erflood the strand 

Where Niger runs his stately course, — 
Thou didst thy duty, and by force 

Of a determined aim thou laidest 
Deep the foundation of the state, 

Which, to thee unknown, thou madest! 

III. 

Live! long the mother of thy country's powers! 
Iyive! bright ensample when the darkness lowers! 
And, in the nearing future, when this laud, 
Shall rise to power supreme and to command, 
Thy glorious virtues may her daughters share, 
Her sons make valor their sincerest care! 



Page 30 * Random Rhymes 

Cbe Ocean's Roar 

What spirit lurks in the Ocean's roar 

As it beats the bare breast 

Of th' unyielding shore? 
'Tis the fierce sprite of a grave unrest, — 
Of the madness and th' unending strife 
And clash of what man calleth LJFE! 

For this did the Father who fashioned all 

That moves on this terrestral ball — 
Give the loud-voiced thunder to the rolling main: 
That man, hearing oft its reverberant strain, 
Might sense the true tone of discord and strife — 
The epitome of his inharmonious life. — 
And thus does the sound of the sea's deep roar 
Teach us a lesson evermore, evermore! 



Hfrie's Cament 



Break! Break! Break! on my rugged shore, O sea! 

Dash in furious madness to windward and to lee! 

But ne'er canst thou daunt the spirit Ethiopa breathes 

within, 
Whilst thou bring' st from proud Europa her vileness and 

her sin! 

Waft! Waft! Waft! ye winds from a northern clime, 

And bear on your far-brooding pinions the lies of far- 
speeding time; 

But how can you hope to enfreshen this soul with your 
stinging blast? 

And how can ye hope to enliven, ye murderers in the past? 



Random Rhymes ** Page 31 

As long as yon star beams in glory, as long as the sun 

never sets, 
As long as there's life for the living and death for him 

who forgets, 
So long shall I stand before you, bare-bosomed and most 

defiled, — 
A phantom that e'er shall haunt you, O Europe's fairest 

child! 

What more can I, giving, grant you? and what have I 

e'er withheld? 
Or in these days of darkness or the palmy days of eld? 
The offspring of this bosom thou knowest how were torn, 
How from my dark brow were stolen the gems that thou 

hast worn! 

Thy boasted wealth and power, thy foul ill-gotten gains, 
The heritage of bloodshed, of wickedness and chains, 
How come they? ah thou knowest! thou knowest all thy 

sin! 
How life is naught but horror where'er thine armies win! 

Tho' torn and sore and bleeding, I still remain thy prey; 
Think not there breaks no morrow, — no fairer, calmer day: 
Think not the sleepless heavens no retribution give, 
Nor that the God who sleeps not, cares not for those who 
grieve ! 

Sing well the white man's burden! ay, sing his pleasures 

too! 
The pleaures are his portion, the burdens — others rue! 
Yea, others pour their life-blood to quench his sordid greed, 
While he lives on unconscious, — unmindful of their need. 

Break! Break! Break on my heart, O sea, thy wave! 
Bear hitherward Europa, for here she finds her grave! 



Page 32 * Random Rhymes 



Che Race=$oul 

Say, what, O what of the great race-soul, 
— The soul of the Black and free, — 

The soul that throbs midst the deepest gloom 
With a true immortality? 

Yes, the world rolls on, and the ages pass, 
And life with its thunderous tread, 

Keeps pace with the rythm of the soul's deep song 
As we steadily forge ahead! 

While it throbs and throbs and the dominant hand 
Strikes the chords of affections pure, 

There's never the ghost of a base desire, 
Or materialistic woe! 

Move along, O world, on your sordid plane, 

Grasp the wraith of your noon-night dream! 

The Black man treads in a surer field 
Where no traitorous beauties gleam. 

And he measures arms, — but not with men 

Of a "base and a low design", 
Who ever rejoice in the clink of gold 

And the sparkle of ruddy wine. 

Yes, he measures arms, ay, but not with those 
Who murder the weak and small; 

But he mounts the height of a pure delight 
When he pities the woes of all! 

O the fulsome ring of the battle shout, 

Wakes no echoes in his breast; 
For the Black man hates the turbulent field, — 

The broad field of a great unrest. 



Random Rhymes * Page 33 

Give place, O man of the ashen face, 

Bow low to immutable laws, 
For the Earth belongs to tbe soul that works 

The will of the Great First Cause! 



Co Jealous Cygia 



Tell me no more in the deep cup of love 

Never mingle sweet nectar and poison: 
Deeply we drink, and strongly we prove 

How its taste brings a strange revelation. 
Oft have I sipped from thy cup the sweet draught, 

And as oft have I felt intermingled, 
Passions that wept, and soft passions that laughed 

As its streams through mj' frame swiftly tingled. 

Love giveth life, ay, and love giveth death, 

There is none that can fathom the reason; 
The blue dome above and the green earth beneath 

Sing the very same song every season. 
Love is the link that entwineth twin souls, 

It is likewise the gulf that divideth, 
Brdge the abyss where Hate's dark river rolls, 

But the poisonous drug still abideth. 

Tell me no more that thy love has no dross 

For I know, dear sweetheart, thou art jealous; 
Knowledge of gain and the dull fear of loss 

To the maelstrom of doubt e'er compel us. 
Weary no more with a needless debate, 

It can only portend to thee evil; 
Thy lover is true to his former estate, 

And this doubt's but a child of the devil! 



Page 34 * Random Rhymes 

Co Pauline Repining 

Say no more misfortune dogs thee, — 

That a child of woe thou art; 
Earth has more of sorrow hidden 

Than has yet crossed thy young heart. 

Youth and peace and love surround thee, — 

Pleasures bound thy farthest ken; 
Hope smiles o'er thee, joy and honour, 

Midst the bu^y haunts of men. 

If a cross is laid upon thee 

Though thou plumb' st the straitest line, 
'Tis a trial sent to test thee 

In the crucible divine. 

Heaven's hand, be sure, is shadowed 

In whatever fate we bear; 
And ' tis not for us to mnrmur , 

Nor to shed the useless tear. 

Breast the tide tho' strong it sweepeth; 

Float tho' quicksands pull thee down; 
Thus alone we reach the triumph, — 

Thus alone we gain the crown. 

Cease thee, then, thy vain repinings, 
Seek the beams that light thy way; 

Sorrow is the soul's dark midnight,— 
Hope its joyous holiday! 



Random Rhymes * Page 35 



Ze Deism Queremur! 

If, Lord, in thy high name, I have transgressed 
The bounds to human will that Thou hast set; 
If vaunting knowledge and mistaken zeal 
Have warped the true perception of Thy will; 
If outraged passions and presumptious hate 
Have blinded me to my true destiny, 

Forgive me, Lord, forgive 'Twas but my thought 

To lead this people to the lofty height 

Of noble virtue and true loyalty 

To Thee: 'twas thus methought to serve thy will, 

And that impulse which flows from Thee to man 

Has urged me to proclaim the living truth 

As I, by Thine Almighty aid, perceived 

It: ... . Yet, if I have wandered far, and if 

Thy will is else, forgive, O Lord, forgive! 



Great triune Lord, immortal Sire, 

Our fathers' God, and of our fathers' race, 
Beneath whose sceptre transient powers give place, 
Behold the Vandal and his ruthless fire 
Sweeping amain, an unrelenting host, 
O'er Afric's plains, and desolating death, 
Murder and theft, his never-ending boast, 
Springing, full-armed, his devatating hoofs beneath! 

How long, O Lord, shall foul hypocrisy 
Robed in the vestments of a purer soul, 
Crush our proud spirit 'neath the dread control 
Of vain delusion and necessity? 
How long shall we, like some offending child, 
Be doomed to bear with uncomplaining voice 
The lash, that warps our souls, and falling wild, 
Strikes death where life should be? Is there, O Lord, no 
choice? 



Page 36 * Random Kbymes 

Must but a few in thy high name, the scourge 
Of tyrants bear for crimes which are not theirs? 
And must we expiate the world's vile cares 
Whiles others stand aloof and chaunt our dirge? 
Our God, this may not be: Thy providence 
Is wise: thine equalising power vast: 
We ask thee but the price of innocence: 
On Thee relying, our high hopes we rest at last! 

What tho the strife for power, the ruthless war 
Of Might against her lowly sister Right 
Would fain obscure the ever-gleaming light 
That, from thy throne, speedeth its way afar 
Throughout the cycles of the universe? 
What tho Crime's serried ranks would ceaseless burst 
Their bounds and brave thy everlasting curse, 
Must we, unsinning, of all fortunes bear the worst? 

See, Iyord, what fools religious tyrants be! 

High on thy throne Injustice they enshrine 

And insults minister to Thee and Thine: 

The seats which thine all-sapient decree 

Hath willed to peaceful Iyove, they wiser far 

Than Thee, have given to rancorous Hate 

And decked him with the ever-gleaming star 

That guideth us to high Heaven's bright elysian state. 

Shall Mighty Reason, the handmaid of God, 
L,end her high aid to throned wrong? and must 
The child of simple faith become of I,ust 
The uncomplaining victim? Must the sword 
Us, peaceful dwellers of the earth, impale? 
And must we trusting thy high powers, 
Forever weep within a hapless vale 

Where Death, unhindered, stalketh, and Night's mantle 
lowers? 



Random Rbymes »? Page 37 

Sporadic gleamings of Eternal God! 

Ye rays that pierce through yon obscure inane, 

The hope of faith and the all-powerful bane 

To those who ravish truth of her reward ! 

Can love be crushed beneath your watchful eye, 

Or foul hypocrisy unchallenged sway 

The boundless realms? O from your fountain high 

Flash forth the blessing of a fairer, calmer day! 

Lord, in primeval shades, — Thy sacred groves, 
We seek for thee and with out-reaching heart. 
O Lord we cannot know thee as thou art, 
But Nature shadows forth thy boundless loves. 
The woods, the stones, the stars, the rippling rills 
These, these all tell us in a thousand tongues 
That aliens know not, that thy presence fills 
All boundless space! Heed, heed, O Lord, or prayerful 
songs ! 

O sacred relicts of unnumbered ages, 

O dark mysterious link of former times, 

O faith ancestral of the golden climes 

Where Niger wanders! on Historia's pages, 

Votive tablets, which no change of life, 

Faith, destiny, development may blot, 

Nor the swift-flowing current of Time's strife 

May e'er erase, shall mark for us your sacred spot! 

Great triune Lord, immortal Sire, 

God of our fathers and our fathers' race, 
Prostrate before thy holy throne of grace, 
We, suppliant, wake to thee our mournful lyre. 
Grant as thou wilt, we must submit, O Lord; 
But raise our lives and point us to the light 
That leadeth on to Virtue's high reward — 
Reach forth thy hand and lead us through tit' encircling 
night! 



Page 3$ * Random Rhymes 



Co Eygia 

On the tense chords of L,ife when the warm breath of Love 
Wakes a soft resonance to the heart's deepest prayer, 
And the quickening shafts of the Sun-God above 
Melt the shadows that loom in this life's atmosphere, 
Say, O radiant queen of m5' soul's sacred shrine, 
Wakes the sister-impulse in that fond heart of thine? 

Ofttimes have I stood on some clift grim and grey, 

Awaiting in vain spicy zephyrs that bear 

The sweet hope of a far more enjoyable day; 

And as oft have been duped into thinking I hear, 

In the sea's deep-toned roar whispered words that will give 

Permission to hope, and desire to live. 

I have chased the wild bees whose sweet droanings entice 
Through long lanes that were decked with chrysanthemun 

bloom, 
I have wandered and prayed and in tears paid the price 
Of a vain sentiment; and, alas, 'tis my doom 
That my passionate longings, — my soul's deep desire 
Should all die like the flames of a fuel-less fire. 

Pity, pity, O Love, a sad soul's dark distress; 
Shed thy smile o'er my life and enliven its stream: 
For I lack now for naught save thy blissful caress: 
For endearments that make life a long summer's dream, 
Grant me this, grant me this, O my life, grant me this, 
Give thy love and seal the rich gift with a kiss! 



Cbe Graduates 

Poem of the Class of 1903, Liberia College 

L,o, here we stand upon the world's vast plain; 
Stretched out before us lay the pleasant fields 
Of opportunity bedeck'd with scenes 
Mysterious, entrancingly sublime, 
Phantoms of hope, of proud Ambition, Wealth, 



-*- OVmJo iio «vw>-^ oJLo^a-O ^J^O^^-^-^A . 



Random Rhymes * Page 39 

And all the brilliant orbs that light us on 

To Fame's fair eminence O soul of man 

That throbs throughout this universal frame; 
O life-endowing Principle that wafts 
On wings of evanescent joys, the deep 
And pure desire of a youthful dream; 
O one ineffable, transcendent, glorious Being 
Whom man in adoration calleth God; 
Guide ye our unaccustomed feet amid 
The labyrinths of this conditioned life! 

As, when one pensive treads the golden sands, 
And dwells with steady gaze upon the broad — 
The boundless blue expanse, beholding there, 
Tossed on its heaving breast the few frail barks 
That dare assail its chasms deep and wide: 
Or as at solemn midnight from some clift 
One views the scintilating fires of high 
Heaven's jeweled dome silently watching o'er 
The speeding earth and this conclusion grasps 
That there reigns silence, and there peace sublime; 
So we, now standing on the giddy verge 
Of Life's mysterious world, might falsely dream 
That in yon gleaming panorama spread 
Enticingly before our infant gaze, 
All pleasure is, all peace, all indolence} 
Let not our minds dwell on this false ideal; 
Let not our hopes be crushed, our fancies balked 
By aureal sprites of phantom excellence; 
Let not stern trial grind in awful truth 
Our foundest idol into mouldering dust! 

The empty glare of all man holdeth dear; 
The glamour of bright pageants, and the songs 
Of lusty revelers whose fulsome notes 
Rouse baser passions in the human breast, 
The clink of gold collected from afar- 



Page 40 # Random Rbymes 

The dream of avarice, — the hope of power 
Obtained by wiles degrading to relate; 
Shall these, O comrades, lure you to a doom 
Unparalleled in ancient or in modern lore? 
And shall you, glorying in a base design 
Plunge headlong, like to yon impatient star, 
Into the throes of endless nothingness? 

Ah, tell me not 'tis but an empty dream, 
The vain hallucination of a fevered brain: 
Ample the field is, aye, and fair to see, 
Yet many are the ruts wherein we plunge 
And struggle — some, perhaps, to fall, others 
To rise more brawny than before, fitted 
To encounter and to overcome! . . .Yet, who, 
Who of the crowds that anxious gloat 
Upon the fortunes of this simple band 
Which like bright beams, would fain illume the 

dark 
And dreadful element of Ignorance, 
Who, I repeat, can with prophetic gaze 
Discern what fortunes Fate enstores for each? 
Whether to rise alike the radiant sun 
When on his mid-day ride and spread abroad 
Refulgent rays to light th' encircling gloom; 
Or, like the waning moon, through all the years, 
To hide in silence 'neath a cloud-capped sky? 
Yes youth is bold, and God's world layeth wide, 
Old age is distant, Time may never cease; 
Heaven rises high and holds a prospect fair 
Which all may gain, and set them there as stars 
Illumining the nether world of Night! 
Still dream no more: tho youth indeed be bold, 
It cannot reach the sky by strife alone: 
Oft do they triumph who in silence bear 



Random Rhymes w* Page 41 

The contumelious thrusts of ruthless foes. 
Nor do I counsel that in silence grim, 
With direful sufferance, uncontending mein 
We should breathe out momentless life, ensnared 
In all the dreadful toils of Circumstance! 
Rise, Comrades, Rise above the petty strifes 
Of life! Be not vile slaves to base designs, 
Nor dwarf the noble temple which the gods 
Provide, to mingle with the worms of earth! 

The great exertions of the intellect, 
The pleasing lanes that lead to eminence, 
The field of politics, the realm of arms, 
Where forces moral and material 
Contend for mastery, where virtues rise 
But to be crushed, alas, by Vice bedecked 
In robes that cheat our higher sense of Good — 
These are, O friends, the avenues where each, 
Where all may tread, unconcious of the fate, 
The infamy, the honour which might meet 
And wake us from fair, sweet, delusive dreams, 
To hurl us back and with no tender hand 
To the world of stern realities! ..... .Ah, yes, 

How often do we not believe the world's 
Rough way is but a flowery vale, where here 
And there to our delighted view fair scenes 
And unexpected beauties rise, that lift 
The prosy mortal to the realms of bliss, 
And vestures him with immortality ! 
And yet, how often are our sportive feet 
Have scarcely ceased their raptured wanderings, 
Some petty trifle inharmonious 

With our surrounding world, 

Breeds dreadful discord in our realm of peace, 
And fades the scene like chaff before the wind! — 



Page 42 * Random Rhymes 

Heed not these trials, but surmount them like 
A speeding shaft surmounts the winged clouds! 

If we have objects high and nobly grand, 
If we have aims that emulate the stars, 
If our ambition, pure and undefiled 
Compels us mount the skies on wings that heed 
Nor adverse winds, nor fierce Tornado's blasts, 
If our keen eyes would with a fixed gaze 
Pierce through the blue-domed canopy on high 
And grasp its veiled mysteries; if we 
Still soaring on an eagle-wing would throw 
Ourselves prostrate before the throne of God, 
'Tis now that we should act, 'tis now address 
Us to these objects with unflagging zeal, 
And like the mighty ships that plough the wave, 
Forge headlong through opposing seas unto 
The final goal of our desires. And when 
At last, our beaming star shall rise o'er earth, 
And mirror all her beauties in the hearts 
Of men alike the heavenly orbs diffuse 
Their raidiance o'er a stilly lake; 
When earth shouts praises, and the vaulted skies 
Re-echo oft, the oft-repeated chant, 
The debt we owe, the recompense we due 
To ALMA MATER that we ne'er discharged 
Perchance requitance in our lives might find. 
Ah, pleasant were the many years we spent 
Beneath her o'ershadowing wing, when each 
In friendly contest strove to mount the height 
Where, in his dreams, he hoped for excellence! 
Our songs, alas, shall fill her halls no more, 
Her walls re-echo not for us again 
Th' embittered word of heated argument: 
No sweet communings of two kindred souls 



Random Rhymes * Page 43 

Shall float again upon her mid-night air. 
All this is past, ah, pass beyond recall: 
Yet memory lives, — a memory cherishes more 
Than all the fostered thoughts we nurture here 
Within our breast: there shall it live until 
Worn by the fading of our mortal frame, 
That sinks with this into the silent grave! 

To you Professors, can we speak the word 
That tears us from the hearts that feel for us? 
Oftimes a man's life-deeds are writ in sand, 
But vile opinion's wave, speeding afar, 
Wash out the good, whate'er of good there be, 
And leaves the bad engraved in hardened stone. 
But ye have nobly done: in sacrifice, 
Gainst foes unseen and seen, in weal or woe, 
In sunlight's gleam, or midnight's gloom, ye have 
Fed us from living fountains where the streams 
All-unrestrained flowed. Long will } ? our sweet 
Instruction and your grave advice, fore'er 
Live in our memories, and like the wide 
And ever- widening circle which appears 
When pebbles kiss a silent stream, so shall 
Your teachings and influence spread, so shall 
They ever widen till at last they flow 
Into the Ocean of Eternity! 
May all the blessings of the gods fall o'er you; 
May all the love of man encompass you; 
And when at last your earthly labours end, 
May you continue in a higher realm 
The work for which a nation blesses you! 
Farewell, O battlemented hill of stone! 
Farewell, O College, which was once our home! 
Farewell, Professors whom we weep to leave! 

Farewell, O comrades, who are left behind 



Page 44 * Random Rftymes 



To dig and delve until you overcome! 
Farewell, the joys of our most happy days! 
Farewell, the happy past, Farewell, Farewell! 



B Sons of Taitb 



O God, our help through all the past, 
Our shelter from the world's fierce blast, 
To thee, in supplication, now 
Thy lowly children bow: 
If thou refuse thy gracious ear, 

Ah, whither shall we go? 
Ah, whither shall our burdens bear 
From out this world of woe? 
Deepest woe! 
If thou refuse thy gracious ear 
Ah, whither shall we bear 
Our deepest woe? 
Hear, O hear! 

Our trust, O Lord, is in thy word: 

Far from the past it now is heard! 

Our hope is in the promises 

Thy will establishes. 

Turn not thy face from us, O Lord, 

Nor count our fears amiss; 
Relying on thy gracious word 

We bring thee naught but this, 
Naught but this! 
Relying on thy gracious word 

We bring thee naught but this; 
Turn not, O Lord, 
Hear, O hear! 



Random Rhymes * Page 45 



Co PauIine»=JI Flirt 

Fickle and false, most uncertain, and vain 
In all thy unwomanly vices and sins; 
Luring a man but to doom him to pain, 
Flirt! how I scorn now thy blandishments foul! 

Deeply I loved thee! Unworthy thou art 
To bear the proud title of woman or wife! 
Nature's abortion! thou thing without heart! 
Thou serpent-ton gued monster! Thou slayer of souls! 

See how she glories in "tricks of the trade"! 
See how she angles for the homage of men ! 
See, when she walks the immodest parade 
See makes of her carriage, her figure, her form! 

Down with the monster, — the thing without soul 
That stains the escutcheon of pure womanhood! 
Out on it! down with it! Crush it! and roll 
Remnant and atom to winds of the earth! 

Thus do I shew thee thyself as thou art, 
Pauline, thou thing that I erstwhile adored, — 
A thing without conscience, a soul or a heart, 
Profuse in caresses, a wanton in love! 



Cbe Cone Star: B national Song 

When Freedom raised her glowing form 
On Montserrado's verdant height, 
She set within the dome of night, 

— Midst lowering skies and thunder-storm, - 
The star of Liberty! 

And seizing from the waking morn, 
Its burnished shield of golden flame, 
She lifted it in her proud name, 

And roused a nation long forlorn, 
To nobler destiny! 



Page 46 * Random Rhymes 



Refrain 

The lone star forever, 

The lone star forever! 
Unfurled in the currents of heaven's pure breeze, 
O long may it float o'er land and o'er seas — ! 

Desert it! No! Never! 

Uphold it, ay, ever! 
O shout for the lone-starred banner, Hurrah! 



II. 



Then speeding in her course, along 
The broad Atlantic's golden strand, 
She woke reverb' rant through the land 

A nation's loud triumphant song, — 
The song of Liberty! 

And o'er Liberia's altar fires 

She wide the lone-starred flag unfurled, - 
Proclaimed to an expectant world, 

The birth, for Afric's sons and sires, — 
The birth of Liberty !— Ref. 



III. 



Then, forward, sons of Freedom, March! 

Defend the sacred heritage! 

The nation's call from age to age 
Where'er it sounds 'neath heaven's arch, — 

Wherever foes assail, 
Be ever ready to obey 

'Gainst treason and rebellion's front, 

'Gainst foul aggression. In the burnt 
Of battle lay the hero's way! — 

All hail, Lone Star, all hail!— REF. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




^jyiJHM 694 8 



